Guilty or Innocent?

We watched a fantastic movie this week.  Now, unfortunately, we had to stop with just one.  The reason---IT WAS SLEETING!  In Greenville!  Before Thanksgiving!  Crazy, right?  I delayed my post a bit, but you’ll have to forgive me, friends.  I’m in the middle of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), and all my writing energies are focused on completing 50,000 words in 30 days.  Again, crazy—right?  You may think so, and I’m okay with that.  But back to our movie, friends….

Movie #1:  Witness for the Prosecution (1957, with Tyrone Power, Marlena Dietrich)

This was originally a story by Agatha Christie.  So it’s already got that going for it!  It’s shot in black and white, and we all thought that it had a definite feel of Hitchcock about it with the camera shots, the wit, and of course the multiple twists (which I will not divulge here).  Beyond just the technical aspects, you have the hilarious Charles Laughton as the old barrister (Sir Wilfred Robarts) who is NOT “go[ing] gently into that dark [retirement]”.    Just being released from the hospital, our portly old barrister is in constant battle with his disciplinarian nurse and finds ingenious methods of sneaking in his cigars and brandy.  The bickering between these two is just phenomenal. 

We’re taken through the court trial for the murder of a lonely, wealthy widow.  As with Agatha Christie’s stories, not all is as it appears, and the revelations of such are completely explosive.  We think some of the best scenes of the film are the cross-examinations between Sir Wilfred and Marlena Dietrich’s character.  The chemistry between those two antagonists was absolutely powerful.

What we liked:  1.  The “old married couple” type of relationship between Sir Wilfred and his nurse.  2.  The actors playing Sir Wilfred and the nurse were actually “an old married couple”.   3.  The ending!  That’s all I can say.  This is a no spoilers blog.

Ratings:  4.5s all around!  Watch this movie.

Dear friends,  we have now reached over 1,058 blog hits!!!!  That is just completely awesome to us since I just started this to document all these great movies that we were watching.  It really is just a lark and sometimes life gets in the way of keeping this updated at times, but it's wonderful to know that you guys are enjoying it right along with us.  The only thing I do to share this is put it on Facebook, so if you know of folks who enjoy movies, share us with them if you like.  We love the company!!  Here's to another 190 movies and another 1,000 page hits!  Keep the popcorn warm, and we'll keep bringing you more great (and a few terrible) cinematic gems.  Many, many thanks from the Tuesday Night Movie Nuts!  That's a wrap.... for this week!